bzmore

bzmore [<more(1) options>] [<filename> ...]

-c
    Clear screen before each page (no scrolling).

-d
    Display verbose prompts like '[Press space to continue]'.

-i
    Ignore case during searches.

-l
    Treat form feeds (^L) as printable characters.

-s
    Squeeze multiple adjacent blank lines into one.

-u
    Do not interpret underlines or backspaces.

+NUM
    Start displaying at line number NUM.

+/PATTERN
    Start at first line matching PATTERN.

-NUM
    Set approximate lines per screen to NUM.

bzmore is a Linux/Unix command-line pager utility specifically designed for viewing bzip2-compressed (.bz2) text files interactively, displaying content one screenful at a time. It transparently decompresses files on-the-fly using bzip2 -dc, piping the output to the standard more(1) pager. This allows efficient browsing of large compressed files without manual decompression, saving time and disk space.

bzmore handles both compressed files (typically ending in .bz2) and plain text files seamlessly—if no .bz2 suffix is present, it treats the input as uncompressed. It supports standard pager navigation: spacebar advances one page, Enter moves one line, 'b' goes back a page, '/' searches forward, 'n' repeats search, and 'q' quits.

Ideal for system administrators reviewing compressed logs, documentation, or data dumps, bzmore integrates into scripts or terminals effortlessly. Unlike full editors, it is read-only and optimized for sequential viewing. Performance depends on bzip2 decompression speed, which is slower than gzip but offers better compression ratios.

Does not support file editing; decompress first for changes. Decompression may be CPU-intensive for very large files. Limited compared to less(1) in features like backward navigation without options.

bzmore /var/log/app.bz2
Views compressed log file page-by-page.

Inside bzmore, type /error then Enter to search for 'error'; 'n' for next match.

Developed by Julian Seward as part of the bzip2(1) suite, first released in 1996. Included in most Linux distributions via bzip2 package; stable with minor updates tied to bzip2 versions.

more(1), less(1), zmore(1), bzip2(1), bzcat(1)